DEKALB, Ill. -- The Northern Illinois University women's soccer team will open Mid-American Conference play this weekend as the Huskies host a pair of games against Buffalo and Akron. The Huskies will welcome the Bulls to DeKalb for the conference opener on Friday evening, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m., before closing the weekend against Akron on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23, at 2 p.m.

Sunday's match will be NIU's Alumni Day as the Huskies will honor the 1993 Team, the first Division I women's soccer team at NIU, as well as the 1998 MAC Championship team. Sunday is also another Sunday funday with games and inflatables for children while Friday is Youth Soccer Night. 

"Bringing back our alumni is really important to us," said NIU head coach Julie Colhoff. "We talk to our team about contributing to the legacy of NIU soccer and a major part of that is paying tribute to the people that have come before us. We talk about leaving the jersey in a better place and anytime you can honor those that did that before you is a great opportunity.

"We are very excited to have everyone back, but in particular the original team, the 'founding sisters' if you will (from 1993) and also the last team at NIU to win a MAC Championship (the 1998 team), I think that will be inspiring for our group as we head into conference play."

Last time out, the Huskies dropped a 3-1 decision at Northern Iowa (Sept. 14). Freshman Trudy Quidzinski (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) scored her second goal of the season in the 37th minute to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead before the Panthers completed a second half comeback. 

Quidzinski currently leads the Huskies with four points while sophomore goalkeeper Megan Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) leads the MAC in saves entering conference play with 8.12 per contest. 

The Bulls of Buffalo enter conference play with a 6-1 overall record. After falling at St. John's in their season opener, Buffalo has won six consecutive games, including a 3-1 victory over St. Bonaventure last time out (Sept. 14). Carissima Cutrona leads Buffalo with five goals and 17 points while Marcy Barberic has four goals; Emily Kelly has played all seven games in goal for the Bulls and has a 0.71 goals against average and four shutouts. 

Akron enters league play with a 3-4-1 record and visits Western Michigan on Friday before coming to DeKalb. The Zips earned a 3-1 road victory over Robert Morris in their final non-conference game last Friday (Sept. 14). Sydney Worthy and Ashley Amato have each scored three goals to lead Akron offensively while three different Zips have seen time in goal, with Erin McKinney starting six matches. McKinney has a 1.92 goals against average and a .761 save percentage. 

"Having played and coached in the Midwest I have competed against a lot of these teams before," said Colholff of the MAC. "It is a conference that I respect a lot and that I am excited to be a part of. There is a lot of parody in this league, any team that shows up on a given day has a chance to win and I think that fuels every team in every game."

Following this weekend's home matches, the Huskies will hit the road for a pair of matches next weekend in Ohio. NIU will visit Bowling Green on Friday, Sept. 28, before traveling to Toledo on Sunday, Sept. 30.